Sxey.—On supposed Paraffin Deposit at Waipau. ' 899 
Assuming my result to be approximately correct, you cannot avoid com- 
ing to the conclusion that the substance which exists in largest quantity in 
this mineral, has been all along mistaken both by professional analyists and 
those interested in the article for paraffin. 
The precise nature of this substance is more a matter of scientific 
interest than of anything else. I intend, so soon as I can spare the time, 
to determine this, but I think that for the present I have done all that is 
required for economic purposes. I show that about half of the carbonaceous 
part of this «« mineral grease” (as Dr. Hector terms it) is neither paraffin 
or oil. You can judge for yourself of this matter by inspecting what I have 
just obtained from this grease as separated from oil and paraffin.* You 
may notice that it is solid, brittle, and infusible—characters which do not 
belong to either of the substances which, I think, it has been mistaken for, 
viz., paraffin or oil. It is besides highly absorbent of water, and swells very 
much in this liquid, passing thereby into a gelatinous form. The mineral 
grease or supposed “ solid paraffin” yields nearly fifty per cent. of this 
substance. Mineralogically it belongs to the class of combustible minerals 
known as oxygenated hydrocarbons, and I believe contains several of these 
bodies. It is obviously formed out of some of the constituents of petroleum 
by oxydation and absorption of water. Copies of the reports of the 
analyses to which I have just referred, are laid upon the table for your 
inspection.+ 
* Sample was exhibited, as also one of the supposed paraffin mineral. 
t Since this paper was read an examination of the Waiapu mineral grease has 
been made upon a large scale on the grounds of the Southern Cross Petroleum Company. 
The result of this, for comparative purposes, I here render centesimally :— 
54 
Kerosene .- 0 3% 132 
Lubricating oil .- me ae ee AO 
Se ee si ee e T9 
Balance not specified .- i o. 68S 
fod hp Senn ae 1 which is the 
It seems therefore that, as in my results, that co of t 
Most valuable, and which has been asserted to be the most abundant, viz., paraffin, is 
Present, but in minor quantity; the difference between my result and these, in respect 
to the paraffin, is only 1-4 per cent. The excess of i ed 18 
doubtless derived by destructive distillation from the oxy-hydrocarbons present. 
